Adventure In Vegas: Slot Machine Review

There's a reason slot machines are successful: they tease the player with the chance of winning it big. The idea that you can walk in to a casino with only a few pennies to your name and walk out a rich man has enticed people for decades, and the game remains a staple at nearly every casino in existence.

Once you take out the thrill of winning actual money, though, you're left with a completely mindless, random-chance-fueled game that offers little mental stimulation beyond the slight amount of concentration it takes to pull a lever. Turn it into a video game, add in an equally random story and top it off with an unnecessarily confusing interface, and you're left with a pointless title completely devoid of fun. In other words, you're left with Adventure in Vegas: Slot Machines.

Whatever your definition of “adventure” is, it's pretty safe to assume that “Adventure in Vegas” isn't it. Here's your “adventure” in a nut shell: some relative you've never even heard of dies (yep, that's actually the way it's worded in the game) and leaves you tons of cash. You (and just to clarify, by “you” we mean some guy who looks like a strung-out Jonny Quest) take this money with nary a question and go on a road trip across America. That last bit of info doesn't really matter, however, as this road trip is entirely inconsequential to the actual game. You're in Las Vegas now and you're not going anywhere.

After the game gives you the lowdown, you'll get to choose your first slot machine — there's three, and they're all unlocked from the beginning, so while they all offer mildly different challenges, it doesn't really matter which one you choose. As the title suggests, these slot machines are where the actual gameplay comes in. The thing is, the gameplay is about as fun as the “adventure” is adventurous.

Not many surprises here: there's an icon to tap for raising your bet, and there's an icon to slide for pulling the lever. If you play on the first two slot machines you can actually command up to three slots to not spin on your next turn to increase your chances or winning. But you can't choose the same slots twice in a row, to keep things fair.

But then, “fair” isn't really the right word, because when it comes right down to it, this is a game of blind luck. It's designed to be unfair. And that, ultimately, is why the game isn't any fun: there's simply not a whole lot of joy to be had with a game that hinges your success upon elements that are completely out of your control. The only thing mildly compelling the game has to offer is the “Risk!” button. If you win on one turn, you can hit the button to automatically bet everything you just won to double-or-nothing on your next turn, and there's a 50 percent chance either way. It's still random chance of course, but it at least manages to offer some minor thrills in a game that desperately needs them.

There's a few gameplay features, though, that add some unnecessary complexity to a game that can barely dish out the simplicity with much competence. Since you're playing as this guy who has inherited a bunch of money, apparently you have a bunch of...well, stuff as well; such as a mansion and a car, and a creepy panther. If you run low on money (or run out completely) you'll need to sell your belongings to pick up some extra cash. Here's the thing: your only reward for playing these slot machines is buying stuff. Not new stuff, either: stuff that you've already sold to get more money to play the slot machines to buy...stuff.

Conclusion

Adventure in Vegas: Slot Machine isn't broken, unplayable or convoluted beyond reason — it just simply isn't even remotely fun to play. It's a game based entirely around a few taps of the touch screen, and luck. Without the thrill of winning actual money or any compelling reason to keep coming back, it wouldn't be worth your time even it were completely free. 200 points is a little too much to ask for the level of boredom and monotony that awaits you here.

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User Comments (23)

DSiWare is just unbelievably poor now. About 1 in 20 releases are actually decent, and even less are worth the money. I wish Nintendo would stop crap like this getting into the DSiWare Shop and only let the good stuff in. Then maybe developers would actually think about the game they're making.

@mariofanatic Climber, Artisan and Thorium are all great and the two GO games you mentioned are decent, but if that's all we get in two months, that's pretty bad. Across the board DSiWare is around 70% shovelware. There are good games, but not enough of them to make DSiWare a decent service.

@LuWiiGi Overall wiiware is definetley better but that wasn't the case in the previous two months. I can only think of one wiiware game that came out in the last two months thats worth getting which is sonic 4.

Wow. This review is quite harsh. I got this game and came away quite pleased. I understand that it is rather pointless but then, owning your own real slot machine is equally as pointless and yet many people do that. I guess only people with gambling problems can see the enjoyment of this. Like me

Yes guys, the ratio of bad to good on DSiWare is kind of awful but just do what I do and ignore all the crap. Even though there is alot of bad on DSiWare there is still a ton of good and even great to be found. If someone were to buy a DSi today and log onto the shop for the first time there would be so many awesome titles for them to try. I try to look at DSiWare as a whole instead of recent releases. I for one have been very pleased with my experiences from the DSi Shop.

What is the ratio of shovelware to good games for retail DS releases? Or Wii releases? The fact is, there is a lot of shovelware across the board in the games industry. Downloadable platforms are no different, so I suggest accepting that fact and supporting the quality releases you want.

I do believe the reviewer was kind of harsh here. The game appears to deliver exactly what it promises; nothing about the review even hints at broken controls. They even simulate real life, because some people really do sell their worldly possessions for gambling money (it would even be kind of cute to see someone slap their cherished DSi down on a Black-Jack or Poker table). I don't see why a game that's got nothing inherently wrong with it should get a score less than 5. The reviewer does not enjoy gambling simulators, and thus gave us back some of his own bias in the review. Exactly the type of thing I originally came to Nintendolife to avoid.

While I didn't get this game, I've had fun in the past with fake slots. You only pay 2 dollars for it, and I'm sure it would be a fun diversion for someone sitting on the throne or waiting in line at the supermarket.